A hat-trick is one thing, but a four-goal haul in a single game is even more special.

That is something that has been managed on nine occasions in Europe’s top five leagues.

These are the players that have done it…

1. Lionel Messi (Barcelona)

19th September 2017 vs Eibar

Lionel Messi’s four-goal haul against Eibar back in September included his second hat-trick of the season having already bagged a treble against Espanyol just a couple of weeks earlier.

Messi leads the way when it comes to La Liga scoring on 25 for the campaign, although he faces stiff competition if he is to retain his European Golden Shoe as the continent’s top scorer.

2. Ciro Immobile (Lazio)

6th January 2018 vs SPAL

Serie A minnows SPAL were on the receiving end of a four-goal haul from prolific striker Ciro Immobile in January, a game that Lazio won 5-2 as they fight for a Champions League place.

Immobile has rediscovered his best form since returning to Italy in 2016 after disappointing spells with Borussia Dortmund and Sevilla in Germany and Spain respectively.

3. Neymar (PSG)

17th January 2018 vs Dijon

Having scored regularly in his first few months with Paris Saint-Germain following a €222m move from Barcelona, Neymar stepped things up even more when he bagged four goals in an 8-0 thrashing of Ligue 1 minnows Dijon in January.

His debut season has already finished as a result of a broken foot.

4. Sergio Aguero (Man City)

10th February 2018 vs Leicester

Sergio Aguero scored a Premier League hat-trick for Manchester City against Newcastle in January, but went one better just three weeks later against Leicester by scoring four.

It was his third Premier League hat-trick of this season alone, while the Argentine is also no stranger to mega hauls. He scored four in one game against Tottenham in October 2014, and five in another against Newcastle in October 2015.

5. Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid)

28th February 2018 vs Leganes

After a slow first half of the season by his own standards, Antoine Griezmann has stepped up his scoring in a big way since January and has scored 12 goals in his last 10 La Liga games.

Four of those came in just one outing against Leganes at the end of February. Remarkably, the Frenchman had actually scored a hat-trick against Sevilla just three days earlier as well.

6. Alassane Plea (Nice)

11th March 2018 vs Guingamp

Nice forward Alassane Plea became the first French player to bag a four-goal haul in Ligue 1 in more than 10 years when he was in prolific form against Guingamp earlier this month.

But even after his four-goal haul, Plea has still only scored 10 times in the league in total so far this season and had found the net just once in 10 Ligue 1 outings prior to facing Guingamp.

7. Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)

17th March 2018 vs Watford

Just when Liverpool fans thought Mohamed Salah couldn’t any better, the Egyptian forward bagged four goals in one game against Watford at the weekend.

Salah now has 28 for the Reds in the Premier League this season and is just three short of matching Luis Suarez’s 31-goal tally in 2013/14. He could also become the first Liverpool player to reach 40 goals in all competitions in a single season since Ian Rush in 1986/87.

8. Mauro Icardi (Inter Milan)

18th March 2018 vs Sampdoria

Mauro Icardi is having his best season yet in an Inter Milan shirt and saw his Serie A goal tally boosted to 22 after netting four times against Sampdoria at the weekend.

They were Icardi’s first goals since returning from a recent injury absence, while his prolific early season form had largely deserted him in the few weeks before that layoff as well.

9. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)

18th March 2018 vs Girona

Cristiano Ronaldo continued his incredible recent run of goalscoring form when he netted four against Girona in La Liga at the weekend, the eighth straight game in all competitions in which he has found the net.

It was also his 50th career hat-trick. Ronaldo is now onto 22 league goals for the season and has 37 in all competitions, a tally matched by no other player in Europe’s top five leagues.

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03 2018

Arsenal are preparing to make a shock summer move for Bayern Munich star player Robert Lewandowski, according to a report from Spanish outlet ?Mundo Deportivo.

Lewandowski has been heavily linked with a summer move away from the Allianz Arena since January and has reportedly told Bayern that he wants to leave the club and, more specifically, join Real Madrid.

Reports emerging from Spain this week claimed that two meetings had taken place between Lewandowski’s new agent Pini Zahavi and Los Blancos officials and that an agreement had been reached between the two parties which would see Lewandowski join Real on a two-year deal.

However, Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has since personally informed Bayern Munich that there is no truth behind the claims made by Spanish outlet Mundo Deportivo, according to the Munchner Merkur.

Perez stated to the Bundesliga side that there had been no contact whatsoever between the player and the club and, moreover, no agreement had been discussed let alone reached.

The Gunners are loosely claimed to be another clubs who are interested in signing the Poland international in the summer, even after having spent £52m on Alexandre Lacazette in the summer and a further £56m on Dortmund’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in January.

Lewandowski has scored 100 goals for Bayern since he arrived from rivals Dortmund in 2014. This season, the 29-year-old has notched 23 goals in 21 Bundesliga starts. The former BVB man is still contracted to the Bavarian club until the summer of 2021 and so will cost potential suitors a hefty amount should he leave at the end of the season.

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03 2018

Cristiano Ronaldo reportedly ?placed a bet on himself as he told his Real Madrid teammates that he will finish the season as La Liga’s top scorer back in November – and he could now actually go on to do it.

According to Marca back in November, when he had scored just one league goal and Lionel Messi had scored 12, ?Ronaldo made a bet with his teammates that he would be the league’s top scorer. Four months later Messi has 25 and Ronaldo is creeping up on him with 22.

The bet was made on a week where ?Real Madrid won 3-0 against Las Palmas but Ronaldo was not on the scoresheet. Instead Casemiro, Marco Asensio and Isco were amongst the goals as Los Blancos secured a good victory.

?Ronaldo’s recent run of impressive form has seen him leap up and just behind Lionel Messi in the race for the Pichichi, as the Portuguese captain sit on 22 goals as his four goals against Girona means he’s only three goals behind the Argentine skipper (25 goals).

Whilst the comeback to be closer to Messi is impressive, it’s actually meant that Real Madrid trail their fierce rivals by more points, as they were eight points behind the unbeaten Catalan club then and are now 15 points behind them in third place.

Despite Real’s lackluster form in La Liga this season, it’s impossible not to be in awe of the former Manchester United man’s recent form – ?with the four goals on Sunday meaning he’s now scored 18 goals in his last nine league games.

In this impressive vain of form it’s rather impossible to rule Real out of winning a third successive Champions League trophy – which is the only viable honour the men from Madrid can still get their hands on – and as impossible to rule Ronaldo out of walking away with his fourth Pichichi trophy.

Real Madrid return to action with an away game at La Palmas on the 31st of March as club football takes a break with the international break to be served until then, and with Ronaldo in the form he is currently in it would be crazy to rule Zinedine Zidane’s team out of an incredible third consecutive ?Champions League triumph.

?Real Madrid have been draw against Juventus in the Champions League quarter finals, in what will be a repeat of last season’s final – a match where ?Ronaldo and his Real teammates certainly stole the show.

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03 2018

Real Madrid rose to third position in la liga, cutting the gap to Atletico Madrid in second to four points, after a goal-fest with Girona at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Madrid started brightly, with their attack zinging right from the off, and the Girona defenders being pulled out of position regularly by smart movement.

Lucas Vazquez fluffed his lines early on with a close finish straight at Bono. Minutes later, Ronaldo would show him how it’s done, with a glorious first time finish after a neat short corner move between Marcelo and Toni Kroos, capitalising on some lacklustre marking.

Girona recovered quickly from their defensive lapse to challenge Madrid’s defence. Mojica skipped past Carvajal easily before whipping in a fantastic cross that Portu could only head just wide.

After 22 minutes, Los Blancos were unlucky not get a second, as Vazquez refined his miss from earlier to slot the ball into the net from a similarly central position, only for it to be called offside. Replays showed the young Spaniard as onside, with Ronaldo and Benzema the actual offenders, although the trio were admittedly tightly grouped.

While the attack was very much on song, their defence – particularly Dani Carvajal – were not. The right back gave away an unnecessary free kick right by the corner flag, made even more senseless by Girona’s notorious set piece aptitude.

If Madrid had somehow forgotten this fact, Girona’s top scorer Cristian Stuani gave them a timely reminder, as he crashed home Granell’s pacey cross – after evading Carvajal – to snatch the equaliser that their bravery and conviction going forward deserved.

Both sides continued to test the opposing defences with the methods that had been working for them so far, but neither were able to break the deadlock before the end of the half.

However, that changed immediately as the second half got underway, with that man Cristiano Ronaldo scoring once again with an expertly taken finish via the underside of the bar, capping off a gloriously intricate move.

12 minutes later, the La Liga Champions from last year effectively sealed victory, with another searingly incisive break. Karim Benzema exchanged a clever one two with Marcelo, setting the Frenchman off down the wing.

As he found Ronaldo in the centre, he must’ve thought he’d collected his second assist of the night, but the Portuguese international unselfishly laid the ball off to Lucas Vazquez for the simplest of finishes, despite an opportunity for his hat-trick.

However, five minutes later he had it. It was Benzema again who did him a favour, although unintentionally this time. The French striker was found with acres of space in the box, but still couldn’t beat the keeper. Perhaps tellingly, Ronaldo was expecting this, and was alert to smash in the rebound to claim the match ball.

Madrid’s procession to the final whistle was temporarily halted by Stuani, as he once more towered over Dani Carvajal to head in his second of the night, and save some of Girona’s blushes.

There could’ve been more than blushes to save in the 79th minute, when Stuani latched onto a lax pass from Nacho at the back, but the forward couldn’t get past Navas to collect a hat-trick of his own.

Seven minutes later, all three of Madrid’s substitutes combined to assure their side of the victory, and third place in the La Liga table. Isco squared the ball to Modric, who playfully feigned at playing Gareth Bale in before actually doing so, leaving the Welshman with an easy finish.

Of course, with five minutes left, we should’ve known there would still be enough time for Girona to score from a cross – and they duly did, Juanpe Ramirez nodding home from an unmarked position to confirm Madrid’s ineptitude at the back.

Equally, with three minutes of added time, another Ronaldo score was always on the cards, and with Girona admirably pressing for more, they were stretched, and Toni Kroos found Ronaldo again. The Portuguese international, doing what he does so frequently, finished it off for his 17th goal in his last eight appearances across competitions. Let that sink in.

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03 2018

?According to reports (via ?fichajes.com), Real Madrid are set to reignite their long-standing interest in AC Milan centre-back Leonardo Bonucci this summer.

Despite the 30-year-old only just signing for AC Milan from fellow Italian giants Juventus in July, this has not put Real off of making a move for the Italian international, with Madrid president Florentino Perez eager to acquire reinforcements for his team’s back-line.

It is little surprise that Madrid are looking to bolster their defensive ranks, having conceded 30 league goals so far this campaign, more than double of the amount of goals conceded by rivals Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, who have shipped 13 and 12 league goals respectively.

It would seem unlikely that Milan will allow Bonucci to depart the San Siro after just one season, but technical director Massimiliano Mirabelli may be forced into playing his hand in order to comply with UEFA’s Financial Fair Play rules.

Milan oversaw a giant financial overhaul last year which saw them make a number of big-money signings last summer which not only saw the arrival of Bonucci, but also the likes of Ricardo Rodriguez, Andre Silva and Hakan Calhanoglu. Milan may have to sacrifice one of these players so they don’t get penalised by European football’s governing body, which could give Madrid the green light to move for Bonucci.

The former Juventus man could be swayed by the advances of Madrid. Milan’s new-look side have so far struggled to gel this season, where they find themselves sitting in a mediocre sixth-place, five points off of the top four.

They were knocked out at the last-16 stage of the Europa League by Arsenal in midweek, which seemed to be a more realistic route for them to make a return to the Champions League next season.

However, Milan will have the chance to play for some silverware when they face Juventus in the final of the Coppa Italia in May.

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Bonucci is not the only defender that Madrid are keeping tabs on. Perez and his recruitment staff are reportedly keeping a close eye on Chelsea defender David Luiz, Inter’s Milan Skriniar and Sevilla centre-back Clement Lenglet, who had a big part to play in his side’s recent Champions League triumph over Manchester United.